Authorities say a grenade-wielding man went on a shooting rampage in Dallas and DeSoto late Wednesday killing four people and wounding four others.

The suspect has been identified as Erbie Bowser 44. Authorities say it appears he was trying to kill a former girlfriend and his estranged wife. It is believed both are among the victims.

Officials say the rampage began about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday in Dallas at a home in the 7100 block of Long Canyon Trail near West Wheatland Road and Mountain Creek Parkway. He killed two women and wounded two others there police said.

Toya Smith 43 and her 17-year-old daughter Tasmia Allen died at the scene according to Dallas police reports. Two others Smith’s 14-year-old son and a 17-year-old family friend were taken to a local hospital according to police reports. Their conditions were not released.

Dallas police Maj. Jeff Cotner said the 43-year-old had been talking to her mother earlier in the night and the substance of that conversation worried the older woman. She called back later but couldn’t get through to anyone at the home.

When the mother went to the Long Canyon home she and family members found the victims and called 911 Cotner said. Lurlean Smith told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that she did not get an answer when she knocked. She said she and her grandchild went to a window of the home and could hear what sounded like someone gasping for air.

Reached briefly by phone this morning an obviously distraught Smith told The Dallas Morning News that she did not know why anyone would want to shoot her loved ones. She was too upset to discuss the case further however.

“This is not the time this is not the time ” she said tearfully before quietly hanging up the phone.

Police believe Bowser then went to a home in the 100 block of Galleria Drive in DeSoto where he threw a hand grenade into the living room before shooting and killing two women police said. He also wounded two boys ages 11 and 13 before he ran out of bullets according to police.

DeSoto police said they were contacted about 10:45 p.m. after Dallas police linked the suspect to the home on Galleria. Almost simultaneously police said they received a 911 call from a child at the home who described what was happening inside.

When DeSoto officers arrived Bowser pretended to be among the victims and seemed catatonic giving only his name supposed rank and a serial number. U.S. Army officials confirmed that Bowser served from October 1991 to November 2000 rising to the rank of staff sergeant. Officials said they had no record of Bowser ever being a member of the Army Rangers although authorities said he had tattoos suggesting that.

Officers quickly determined he was their suspect and took him into custody. Officers also confiscated a pocket knife from him.

A 3-year-old child in the DeSoto home appeared to be unhurt and was turned over to Child Protective Services police said.

Authorities say Bowser was previously arrested for violating a protective order and evading arrest. Records show that occurred in December 2011. Records also show he was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

That protective order was ordered by the associate judge presiding over Bowser’s divorce — his second – in 2011.

Court records show that on February 3 2011 a judge wrote that “family violence has occured [sic] and is likely to occur in the future.” The protective order was granted for a year and Bowser was ordered to get his then-wife’s “wedding ring and tennis bracelet from pawn shops” within two weeks.